D&D 5E The Next D&D Book is JOURNEYS THROUGH THE RADIANT CITADEL

We peered, poked, squinted, flipped, and enhanced the teaser image that WotC put out last week, and it turns out we got it right -- the next book is, indeed, Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel.

Wraparound cover art by Evyn Fong​

Through the mists of the Ethereal Plane shines the Radiant Citadel. Travelers from across the multiverse flock to this mysterious bastion to share their traditions, stories, and calls for heroes. A crossroads of wonders and adventures, the Radiant Citadel is the first step on the path to legend. Where will your journeys take you?

Journeys through the Radiant Citadel is a collection of thirteen short, stand-alone D&D adventures featuring challenges for character levels 1–14. Each adventure has ties to the Radiant Citadel, a magical city with connections to lands rich with excitement and danger, and each can be run by itself or as part of an ongoing campaign. Explore this rich and varied collection of adventures in magical lands.

• Thirteen new stand-alone adventures spanning levels 1 to 14, each with its own set of maps
• Introduces the Radiant Citadel, a new location on the Ethereal Plane that connects adventurers to richly detailed and distinct corners of the D&D multiverse
• Each adventure can be set in any existing D&D campaign setting or on worlds of your own design
• Introduces eleven new D&D monsters
• There’s a story for every adventuring party, from whimsical and light to dark and foreboding and everything in between

Slated for June 21st (update - I just got a press release which says it's June 21st "in North American stores"; I'm not sure what that means for the rest of us!), it's a 224-page adventure anthology featuring a floating city called the Radiant Citadel. The book is written entirely by people of colour, including Ajit George, who was the first person of Indian heritage to write Indian-inspired material for D&D (in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft). Around 50 POC writers were involved in total in various ways.

The Radiant Citadel is on the ethereal plane and is carved from the giant fossil of an unknown monster. A massive gemstone called the Royal Diamond sits at the core, surrounded by a bunch of smaller Concord Jewels, which are gateways to the Citadel's founding civilizations. DMs can link any world to the citadel by placing a Concord Jewel there.

The Citadel, unlike many D&D locations, is more of a sanctuary than a place of danger. The book's alternate cover features a Dawn Incarnate, a creature which is the embodiment of stories and cultures.

D&D 5E - Here's Radiant Citadel's press release

Dropped in my inbox a short while ago, if you want the official announcement. It's the same info as in the news article on the front page. Dungeons & Dragons Invites You to Explore the Radiant Citadel Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel is a new collection of short adventures set in wondrous...

www.enworld.org

The adventures are as follows:

• Salted Legacy
• Written In Blood
• The Fiend of Hollow Mine
• Wages of Vice
• Sins of Our Elders
• Gold for Fools and Princes
• Trail of Destruction
• In the Mists of Manivarsha
• Between Tangled Roots
• Shadow of the Sun
• The Nightsea’s Succor
• Buried Dynasty
• Orchids of the Invisible Mountain

UPDATE -- the press release contains a list of some of the contributors: "Justice Ramin Arman, Dominique Dickey, Ajit A. George, Basheer Ghouse, Alastor Guzman, D. Fox Harrell, T.K. Johnson, Felice Tzehuei Kuan, Surena Marie, Mimi Mondal, Mario Ortegón, Miyuki Jane Pinckard, Pam Punzalan, Erin Roberts, Terry H. Romero, Stephanie Yoon, and many more."

Regular cover by Even Fong

Alternate Cover by Sija Hong​

 

[Dire Bare]

I don't buy adventure books, so I'm going to pass on this one.

I have no problem with an only POC book, wish it would have been a new setting book.

This will be an adventure anthology. This will also be a setting book, detailing the setting of the Radiant Citadel, and several of the realities connected to it. Best of both worlds!

 

[OblivionDrive]

They literally will not be able to please everyone with a psionics release. I'm not surprised they've backed away from it after the reactions to the ideas they've floated so far around it.

I really did like the “psi dice” system they tried with the last play test. It felt like the first attempt to try something new or different but while still having flavor so of course it got shot down. sigh

 

[Urriak Uruk]

That line of reasoning will quickly become dangerous if you apply it to medieval European fantasy.

I am, vehemently, against the idea that creatives can or should be told what they can or can't do/write about/etc. For the record. If people want to make offensive things, by all means let them, and the 'market place of ideas' can sort out the rest.

Ugh. I'm still surprised folks use the "marketplace of ideas" as an excuse for people to say lies, racism, and all the other awful things the internet can spew.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

If I recall, the "revisited setting" is scheduled for 2024, alongside the 5.5e core rulebook update. My guess is that it's a proper Forgotten Realms setting book.

More likely, this is the "classic setting cameo" that we were told to expect for this year - it may not be Planescape proper, but it's definitely Planescape adjacent.

I actually think the Cameo will be in the Spelljammers book, a Planescape Cameo. Actually there might be several setting cameos in that book givens metasetting nature.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Not sure how Planescape or Ravenloft fit into the theming of the book. I'd figure it'd be more likely something like an updated Mystara country.

 

[Faolyn]

I think this is a real missed opportunity. They could easily have used this to showcase lots of classic and new settings. The book would have been a lot more interesting if each adventure was written by an author from a different country who could have worked some of the local folklore into their adventure rather than a non-white mandate

Dude, it's not like them producing this book means they can't also have a book that "showcases lots of classic and new settings." It's not a zero-sum game.

 

[Jer]

Not sure how Planescape or Ravenloft fit into the theming of the book. I'd figure it'd be more likely something like an updated Mystara country.

If the "classic setting cameo" is a Mystara cameo not only would I be exceedingly happy to see it, it would go down as possibly the most epic troll Ray Winninger could have executed.

 

[Parmandur]

It's pretty obvious WotC aren't doing psionics until the community agrees on what sort of psionics they want. Which will be never (or beyond).

You want psionics, grab one of the excellent 3PP rules.

More than that: Crawford mad it clear that Tasha's ws the Psionic book: those were the Psionic options.

 

[Parmandur]

I don't think there is any mention of specific planes apart from the Ethereal. It seems more likely to focus on various worlds of the Material Plane. Another reason for not using Sigil as the hub.

yeah, it seems that these 15 connected worlds are all new Prime material places. Would make a good tie in to the new Spelljammer book, for that matter...

 

[Parmandur]

"The lore of the titular city itself is key to the book’s mechanical function. The Citadel is a previously-abandoned city which has been resurrected by fifteen separate cultures. The original founders of the Citadel came from 27 cultures, 12 of which were “lost,” or have been forgotten. When any culture finds its way into the city, they get a concord jewel set in the orbit around the Citadel, which serves as a portal to that culture’s roots in the material plane. It’s through these portals that each of the adventures takes place."

So the city has 27 founding cultures, not 15, and 12 of them have been lost. It originally sounded like there were 15 civilizations, with 12 of the 15 lost, but it's actually 27 civilizations, with 12 lost LEAVING 15 civilizations, 13 of which are represented by the adventures, 2 represented by some kind of Gazeteers instead, and that leaves the 15th which if I had to guess would a pre-existing setting which most likely would be either Ajit's Ravenloft settings OR one of the Civilizations of the Forgotten Realms such Turmish or Chult.

Perhaps they decided they needed one strong tie to a pre-existing setting, not just possible ancient forgotten links, but a current influencial connection.

The "12 lost civilizations" are probably a hook for tying in your homebrew or standard Forgotten Realms game, or to place fresh creations upon.

Also, your math is a bit fuzzy there: 13 have an adventure, and 2 have just Gazetteers, there is no 16th (other than the Radiant Citadel).